WHO recommends against use of Ivermectin to treat Covid patients
Doctors in India are widely prescribing the anti-parasitic drug with Goa asking all adults to take a five-day course
The World Health Organisation has recommended against using Ivermectin to treat patients with coronavirus disease but the anti-parasitic medicine is widely prescribed by doctors in India for the same. Goa government has even asked its adult population to take a fiveday course, irrespective of their Covid-19 status, to prevent complications.
On Tuesday, a senior WHO scientist took to Twitter to reiterate the organisation’s recommendation. “Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for a new indication. @WHO recommends against the use of ivermectin for #COVID19 except within clinical trials,” said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist, World Health Organisation in a tweet.
He also quoted a statement from pharmaceutical company Merck from February this year which states, “Our analysis has identified: *No scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against Covid-19 from pre-clinical studies.”
In India, the drug is a part of clinical guidance for management of adult Covid patients that was jointly released by Union health ministry, and Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Covid Task Force last month.
Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane on Monday announced that ivermectin -- an orally-administered drug used to treat parasitic infections -- will be given to all adults in the state irrespective of their Covid-19 status as a preventive treatment.→p4
The World Health Organisation has recommended against using Ivermectin to treat patients with coronavirus disease but the anti-parasitic medicine is widely prescribed by doctors in India for the same. Goa government has even asked its adult population to take a five-day course, irrespective of their Covid status, to prevent complications.
On Tuesday, a senior WHO scientist tweeted to reiterate the organisation’s recommendation. “Safety and efficacy are important when using any drug for a new indication. @WHO recommends against the use of ivermectin for #COVID19 except within clinical trials,” said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist, WHO in a tweet.
He also quoted a statement from pharmaceutical company Merck from February this year which states. “Our analysis has identified: “No scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against Covid-19 from pre-clinical studies; no meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with Covid-19 disease, and; a concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies.”
In India, the drug is a part of clinical guidance for management of adult Covid patients that was jointly released by Union health ministry, and ICMR’S National Covid Task Force last month. As per the guidance, Ivermectin is advised for patients with mild Covid-19 disease under therapies based on low certainty of evidence.
Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane on Monday announced that Ivermectin- an orally-administered drug used to treat parasitic infections — will be given to all adults in the state irrespective of their Covid status as a preventive treatment.
Rane had said that people will be given Ivermectin 12 mg for five days as expert panels from the UK, Italy, Spain and Japan have found a statistically significant reduction in mortality, time to recovery and viral clearance in Covid-19 patients treated with this medicine.
When contacted, Dr Vinayak Buvaji, who heads the Goa chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), told news agency PTI on Tuesday that the treatment should not be given for five days but should ideally be continued till the pandemic is brought under control.
“The ideal regimen of Ivermectin is to administer it on the first, third and seventh day and then continue it once a week till the pandemic is under control,” Dr Buvaji said. He also advised against giving the same quantity of the dose to all the people.
“People weighing below 60 kg should be given the 12 mg dose of Ivermectin while those above 60 kg should be given the 18 mg dose,” he said.